Improvement in elevated arch railways



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Elevated Arch Railways.

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AM PHoTaAL/moRAPH/c co, All (oseamva's moes-ss) A'rEN'r EDWIN JAMESHULBERT AND AIM NICHOLAS NAPOLEON AUBIN ,.OF PORTLAND, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN ELEVATED ARCH RAILWAVS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 137,552, dated April 8,1873; application filed March 25, 1872.

To all whom it may concern: y

Be' it known that we, EDWIN JAMES HUL- BERT and AIME NICHOLAS NAPOLEONAUBIN, of Portland, in the county of Middlesex and State of Connecticut,have invented certain Improvements in Elevated Arch Railways, of whichthe following is a specification:

The nature of our invention relates to the construction of arches whichextend across the street and support the elevated railway; and itconsists in the combination and arrangement of the arches, transversebinding-girders, stiftening-brackets, and vertical braces to support thesuspension and guiding rails.

The drawing N o. l represents a front eleva tion, as seen from thecenter of the street, of one ofthe arches intended to span, from curb tocurb, the streets along which the elevated railroads are to run. Itshows the mode of suspension of the tracks and cars; also thearrangement of the platforms and stairs for passengers, street-lamps,telegraph wires, pneumatic tubes, Ste. The drawing No. 2 represents thearches as seen from the sidewalk 5 also the mode of suspending cars.

A A is the body of the arch. It is composed of segments of wrought-ironrolled in plates, the section of which is shown at al, by which it willbe seen that the flange intended to be inside of the curve of the archis shorter than the other, which forms one-half of the surface of theperipheryT of the arch. These plates are firmly riveted or boltedtogether, crossing the joints so that when united their section presentsthe shape seen at a2. These arches can be placed at intervals to suitconvenience, and may be distant from each other from fifteen to ftyfeet, more or less. They would rest upon cast or wrought ironbase-plates supported by a foundation of masonry, or of metal cylindersor boxes filled with concrete. In wide streets the arches would form asemicirole butin very narrow ones, where only one or two tracks can findroom, the arch can be elliptical, so asto Obtain sufficient height forthe tracks above the roadway. B B is a girder thrown across from one legof the arch to the other, performing the double part of supports forcar-guides, and, if desired, of railway tracks, and of a main tie to thearch, preventing the spreading apart of its side segments; C C, castironornaments fixed to the roof of the arch and at the ends of thecross-girder, to secure the perfect rigidity ofthe construction; DD D,supplementary girders placed between the arches, supported verticallyfrom longitudinal girders d1 d1, and diagonally by rods from the archesd2 d2. (Drawing No. 2.) These bind the `arches together and support thetracks and cargnides. E E E E, upright bars, with shoulders e e e e e,bearing the tracks when cars are to be suspended. They also serve asstays and struts to keep the tie-girders B B in a perfectly straightline. to prevent the side oscillations of the cars when suspended, asshown. The inside tracks f1 fl can be used for rapid transit; theoutside ones, fzfz, for local or slow cars. N, passenger-car, to bepropelled by compressed air, steam, or other convenient power. n2 n2 arethe suspending-wheels. They are grooved to the shape of the track a, andthe bottom of the groove furnished with a semi-elastic band of Indiarubber, so as to deaden the noise which would result from the contact ofa hard tire upon the metal rails. The tracks, wherever supported, areresting upon India-rubber cushions, to prevent the communication l ofthe vibrations of the rails to the other parts of the, structure. 'a3a3, horizontal wheels, placed under the car to run against the angleironguides to "prevent lthe side oscillations of the car; n4 n, rollers orwheels, running vertically to receive and sustain the car in case of thebreaking of an upper wheel, axle, or

rail; a5 a5, rollers, placed upon both ends of the shafts of thesuspending wheels. They are loose upon the shafts and free to run uponthem whenever they come in contact with the safety-rail or angle-ironbar a6 ne, placed above the main rail, but outside of thesuspendingwheels.

This arrangement secures the cars against all danger of running off thetrack, and when combined with the lower guides (the vertical andhorizontal wheels) it will easily be admitted that an elevated roadconstructed upon the before-described system can be made much F F F F,angle-iron car-guides safer than ordinary ground roads, and might7 allconstructed and arranged substantially as l in fact, be considered Vasperfectly free from and for the purpose set forth. Y

EDWIN JAMES HULBERT.

danger.

What We claixn as our invention is- A. N. N. AUBIN. In elevated archrailways, the combination of the segments al, bindinggirders B B, cast-Witnesses: iron Sti'eners C C, upright bars E E with FRANCES C. HULBERT,shoulders e, and angle-iron guides or plates F, LUCIE M. MATILE.

